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Portland unemployment falls to 7.5 percent, in step with U.S. rate

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Jennifer Helmbold and Derek Palmer set a table at downtown Portland's Raven & Rose last week. The pair of worked at the restaurant since it opened in January. Oregon's food service industry is among the fastest growing in the state.
(Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)

The metro area gained a seasonally adjusted 4,200 jobs last month, according to a report released Monday.

Unemployment fell from 7.8 percent to 7.5 percent -- a mark that matches the national average -- according to the monthly report from the Oregon Employment Department.

The region's professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality sectors posted the largest monthly gains, before adjusting for seasonal factors. Both industries now employ more than before the recession, which is also true statewide.

The seven-county region has gained 3,400 jobs, on average, each month since the start of the year. That compares with 4,300 statewide, Vander Vliet said.

Oregon's unemployment rate was 8.0 percent in April, its lowest point since the economy began to tumble in the Great Recession.

County to county, though, joblessness varies from 5.8 percent in Benton to 12.8 percent in Crook.

Unemployment in Medford dipped into the single digits this spring for the first time since November 2008. Revised data shows it was 9.9 percent in March, then slid to 9.6 percent in April.

Economists say that the unemployment rate is falling in part because workers are dropping out of the labor market. The percentage of Oregonians now in the workforce is at a historic low, a trend playing out throughout the U.S.

About 20,000 have left Portland's labor force in the past year, Vander Vliet said. Another 82,500 were looking for work.